Inspired by several recent papers on the edge ideal of a graph G, we study
the equivalent notion of the independence complex of G. Using the tool of
vertex decomposability from geometric combinatorics, we show that 5-chordal
graphs with no chordless 4-cycles are shellable and sequentially
Cohen-Macaulay. We use this result to characterize the obstructions to
shellability in flag complexes, extending work of Billera, Myers, and Wachs. We
also show how vertex decomposability may be used to show that certain graph
constructions preserve shellability.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. v2: Improved exposition, added Section 5.2 and
additional references. v3: minor corrections for publicatio